The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, together with Securing Smart Cities, a not-for-profit global initiative that aims to solve the existing and future cybersecurity problems of smart cities, today announced the release of the Establishing a Safe and Secure Municipal Drone Program report. The new 28-page report, co-authored by the CSA Internet of Things (IoT) Working Group, provides guidance for the safe and secure creation and operation of a municipal drone program by analyzing the drone’s role and impact on future metropolitan areas

“Whether you are a fan of them or not, it is becoming increasingly evident that drones will in fact play an important and even critical role in the smart city environment,” said Brian Russell, Co-author of the report, Chair of CSA’s IoT Working Group. “Cities around the country are actively working to implement large-scale drone programs to support various functions ranging from medical, transportation and agricultural to emergency management and infrastructure protection. It is important that these drone systems be safe, stable, resilient and sustainable.”

The Establishing a Safe and Secure Municipal Drone Program research report first identifies security threats caused by drones and then provides practical guidance on how drones can be used as an effective cyber security tool in smart city monitoring. The report also details the impact drones could have on main municipal aspects such as national security and addresses the required measures needed to protect, monitor, respond to and recover from cyber security threats.

“Drones in the sky, drones in the sea, drones on land. But are we ready? The mass adoption of drones by cities implies that thousands of programmable connected mobile devices will not only operate in the streets, but also above and below them. From a security perspective, this guarantees potential disasters, should one of several drone systems or the software used to control them become compromised or manipulated. We’re trying to raise these issues early to the public, which is why we’ve prepared these guidelines,” said Mohamad Amin Hasbini, Securing Smart Cities board member.

Specific recommendations outlined in the Establishing a Safe and Secure Municipal Drone Program research report for municipal drone system operational security include planning requirements, integrated system design, acquisition security, integration, testing, and deployment. Smart cities also present the problem of securing environments where systems are patched and devices are controlled. Drones can provide cyber security benefits including identifying rogue signals, monitoring sensing operations, identifying jammed signals and support incident response for other connected systems.

About Cloud Security AllianceThe Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, certification, events, and products. CSA’s activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud — from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs and the assurance industry — and provide a forum through which diverse parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem.

Securing Smart Cities is a not-for-profit global initiative that aims to solve the existing and future cybersecurity problems of smart cities through collaboration between companies, governments, media outlets, other not-for-profit initiatives and individuals across the world. For further information, visit